Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Ireland took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union at the start of the year, and last Wednesday Taoiseach Enda Kenny, leader of the Fine Gael-Labour (EPP-PES) coalition government, outlined the priorities of the presidency to the European Parliament. Sustainability, jobs and growth are the central mantra of the presidency, though the familar buzzwords didn't stop Kenny from attempting rhetorical flight in the Strasbourg chamber, enthusing about the European family.

In his speech to the European Parliament, Kenny outlined a
large work programme, from CAP and CFP reform to collective copyright
management and data protection. The Data Protection package is one of the biggest legislative changes and a flagship policy of the Commission. There's been worries that the law won't be passed before the parliament ends, causing the draft to lapse and the work to go to waste, so there will have to be a big push from the presidency to make progress here.

Interestingly, while he stressed the need to
pass the 2-Pack of legislation (which I’ve written about here) and the
importance of the European Semester, Kenny also expressed a willingness to
engage with the Parliament on the democratic deficit – let’s see if any
constructive measures make it to the statute books.

A major topic was, of course, breaking the link between sovereigns
and banking debt, with the banking union and progress on the implementation of
the Single Supervisory Mechanism. On trade, Kenny looked forward to the authorisation and opening of negotiations with the US, along with negotiations with Japan, Canada and ASEAN.